ALPHADROME ROBOT AND SPACE TOY DATABASE

ALIEN SPACE GUN - MAKER? - AUSTRALIAA bulbous clear plastic space water pistol with rotating plastic aliens inside. This is an Australian version of the J.G. Schrödel design, sometimes called the Astronaut Rocket Ray Gun. This is a 6.5" 16cm version with one flat plastic alien inside. Name? Date?

ATOM JUNIOR - MAKER? - AUSTRALIAPlastic space gun with probable water squirt action. This is based on the Pyro Space Control Gun. Marked Atom Junior on the sides but with no maker's mark. Known colors: green 5" (13cm) Box? Packaging?

The gun is described as the Atomic Junior gun in the Perth Sunday Times dated 16 August 1953.

ATOM RAY GUN - MAKER? - AUSTRALIAPlastic water pistol space gun. Plastic body with a metal reservoir cover, trigger and barrel. A copy of the Hiller Atom Ray Gun made in burgundy plastic or Bakelite. An Australian newspaper advert in the Sydney Sunday Herald 27/11/49 date this plastic version to 1949. It has a distinctive curved trigger.

It was replaced by a metal version in 1950. The manufacturer of this gun has not yet been identified. Box unknown. (In this picture the metal end cap is from the USA version. The Australian version may differ.) Box?

ATOMIC JET WATER GUN - FETHALITE - AUSTRALIAPlastic space water gun with classic bulbous styling. Large rear fin and a small front fin. The plastic nozzle is recessed inside the barrel opening. Filler cap on the top. Atomic Jet is molded into one side of the large rear fin, and Fethalite 67 (catalog number) into the other side. Red, black, green and probably other colors.

This gun's design is from the Rocket Jet gun made by the US Plastic Co. It was available as a premium for those who raised 30 shillings for the ULVA charity in South Australia (see page 120 in the Blast off book for an example of the flyer). This charity drive was called “The Rocky Starr Christmas Cheer club” and was associated with the radio show “The Adventures of Rocky Starr”. The name of the show may also be the reason this gun was chosen as a premium as a version of it was produced in the U.S. for the “Captain Starr of Space” radio program and in both shows the main character was Rocky Starr even though the storylines are different. The newspaper article is from August 1953. Box? Packaging?

AtomicJet

ATOMIC POW'R POP GUN - GLENN - AUSTRALIAHard plastic space pop gun with barrel rings and futuristic lines. Telescopic sight. Finns on the barrel tip. A brass tipped rod is pulled back to cock the mechanism. Supplied with four corks. A whistle is built into the handle. 8" long. An ad in "The Retailer" dates the gun to May, 1951.

ATOMIC RAY PISTOL - TUDOR ROSE - ENGLANDPlastic space gun in bronze or silver-blue and green versions. Shoots a distinctive dart with a forked tail. An elastic band runs top to bottom inside the barrel, just behind the rings - the band actually sticks out of the gun and attaches to small pegs. The dart has that "claw" bit in the rear because it wraps around the rubber band, drawing it back, and then the dart clicks into place. When the trigger is pulled, the dart launches out of the gun. The whole dart actually slides into the barrel -- nothing sticking out, unlike most guns, which leave the front suction cup exposed. English

The gun is decorated with red plastic dials that turn, and other non-working levers. Sold on a brightly decorated backing card, in a bag with an additional header card. The graphics are intentionally similar to Dan.Dare.

A version of the gun in silver with blue control knobs is known. It does not have the Tudor Rose maker's mark. It may be an Australian release. See also the French Le Pistolet Atomic version.

A patent for the US version was published in 1952.
Pat No. 169315.
Inventor Mahlon Hirsch

BALL SHOOTING SPACE GUN - SELCOL - ENGLANDA clear plastic ball shooting gun. 7" 18cm The transparent plastic gun has red detailing. It holds five balls in a cylindrical upper chamber. These drop into the lower barrel and are fired by cocking the mechanism and pulling the trigger. Distinctive hoops on the barrel and a vertical sight at the back. An Australian advert shows this gun design, dating it to no later than December 1955.
ping pong

Packaging?

This is the same basic design as the Sensacional Pistola Lanza Bolas and the Pongo Pistol.

BOOMERANG RAY GUN - MOULDED PRODUCTS - AUSTRALIAA red plastic six-shooter revolver. The gun has a vertical protrusion from the bottom of the barrel that is puled back to cock the mechanism. When the trigger is pulled the gun fires a coil of plastic covered paper that returns to the barrel. 9.5" 24cm. The name and box art clearly establishes its target space audience. The barrel is marked PLAYMATE BOOMERANG GUN. Playmate was a range of toys made by Moulded Products.

Advertised in late 1953 in an Australian newspaper

This is a variation of the Tigrett Zoomerang gun, a Hopalong Cassidy themed conventionally shaped plastic revolver with a slightly flared barrel.

western crossover

CAPTAIN ATOM PROJECTOR PISTOL - MAKER? - AUSTRALIAMail-away space gun based on Captain Atom, the comic book that featured the Australian equivalent of Superman in the late 1940s. A metallic blue diecast pistol. The angular pistol shaped gun has a distinctive V design on the grip. Battery powered projector gun with six film strips featuring such Australian-drawn comic characters as Captain Atom, Flynn of the FBI, The Grey Domino and The Lone Wolf. Early 1950s

Sold in a fairly plain blue box. The gun is based on the American Auto-Magic Space Viewer by Stephens.

There are two known boxes. The more common box is predominantly red/yellow. The second is box is predominantly blue. It depicts Dan Dare in RAF uniform on one side and in a spacesuit on the other. It is possible that this is the box for the Australian release.

This is the first the Dan Dare space guns. It was announced in the 1st August 1951 issue of "The Eagle". Available exclusively from Marks and Spencer. The gun rapidly sold out. Also featured in the 1953 Mettoy catalog (bottom)

PLANET GUN - JANDA TRADING COMPANY - AUSTRALIAGold die-ast metal gun with sleek futuristic styling. Pop gun action. "PLANET" molded on the handle and space graphics on the barrel. The mechanism works much like the Buck Rogers Rocket Pistol: the gun is cocked by breaking the butt or handle. Known as the Australian Planet gun.The advert dates the gun to 1954.

SPACE CONTROL CLICKER PISTOL - MAKER? - AUSTRALIASmall, hard plastic space gun. Standard automatic design with three distinctive angled louvres around the barrel tip. Small fin on top. Clicker action. Marked Space Control on the sides. Seen in semi-transparent metallic maroon and green colors. Hoop on the bottom of the handle. Box? Packaging? 4.5" 11cm

This gun's design is a copy of the Pyro Space Control gun. It is a blue diecast metal cap firing gun and measures 6 ¾” long (17cm). It was most likely made in 1953 either for the Australian version of the Tom Corbett Space Cadet Radio show or for the comic as some form of premium. It has a self feeding mechanism to feed the caps through each time the trigger is pulled. The only identifying mark on it is the brand name – Brentoy – which is written on the rings of Saturn underneath the word Cadet. Box? Packaging?

SPACE DISINTEGRATOR GUN - FETHALITE - AUSTRALIAThis is an Australian version of the B&W Plastics Tommy-Ray Space Gun. It is a large 23 inch plastic tommy gun style space machine gun. Battery operated "magnetic vibrator" noise and flashlight action. Sold with matching helmet. Details taken from the 1954 Pierwood Plastics advert. Available in red, green and yellow. Photo? Box?

Fethalite was owned by Piercy and Ashwood, hence the trading name Pierwood.

SPACE EXPLORER SET - FETHALITE? _ AUSTRALIACurrently identified only from this Australian newspaper ad from November 1953. The carded set comprises a Pyro Space Control stle clicker gun, two Tudor Rose style spacemen and a Fethalite(?) spaceship in the style of a Gilmore Fireball jetmobile. Still speculative. Photo? Details?

SPACE JET GUN - MAKER? - AUSTRALIAHard plastic clicker gun with distinctive futuristic styling. The wording SPACE JET is molded into the side along with stars and Saturn. This is based on the Pyro Space Control gun but there is a name change and there are slight differences in the details: fin, trigger etc. Packaging? Date? 5.5" 14cm

SUPER ATOMATIC - PADJON - AUSTRALIAName: Super Atomatic

Manufacturer: Padjon Manufacturing Company, NSW

Brand: Padjon 1953

Country: Australia

Description: This gun is a paper buster and is a copy of the LMCo Super Numatic (Langson Manufacturing Company, Chicago Illinois). Padjon is not a toy company (in fact in the 1953 Sydney telephone directory they are listed as an Engineering works company). They appear to have made a number of toys though (see ad on the right of picture which is from 1957) and may have done so as a sideline to supplement income. Usually we call these ray guns or space guns because of the way they look, though they were rarely marketed as such but this one has a name which uses the “ATOM” appellation so it possibly was marketed as a space gun in Australia.
This one we also have an earlier date. a newspaper ad dated 10th Dec 1953. Box? Packaging?

SUPERSONIC SPACE SHOOTER - MAKER? - AUSTRALIAPlastic battery powered flashlight with click action. Contains color changing filters. Based on the English Pifco Zetaray/ Raydionic mold. Red metallic plastic with the words "Supersonic Space Shooter" molded on the sides. The lens cover is larger than the Zetaray but not as substantial as the Raydionic version. Color variations.

Maker? Box?

TOM CORBETT SPACE CADET CLICKER RAY GUN - MAKER?Silver plastic space gun. This is a variation of the Palmer Space Ray Gun Clicker Pistol. It is appreciably larger - 6" (see comparison shot). It has been suggested that this is an Australian gun. There may be a connection to Palmer Plastics, the designer of the smaller version.

"Tom Corbett" is molded on one side and "Space Patrol" on the other. Simple click action. 1950s Box? Packaging?